A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia

Weide, Alexander; Green, Laura; Hodgson, J.; Douché, Carolyne; Tengberg, Margareta; Whitlam, Jade; Dovrat, Guy; Osem, Yagil; Bogaard, Amy

doi:10.1038/s41477-022-01161-7

Cited by 15 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Wilcox & Stordeur 2012; Colledge et al 2018; Weide et al . 2022) and the exploitation of legumes, fruits and nuts in eastern regions—today's Iran and Iraq (Asouti & Fuller 2013). The first steps towards the domestication of goats are known from the Zagros Mountains in the ninth millennium BC (Zeder & Hesse 2000), but, as with cereals and legumes, there were likely multiple loci and different pathways towards such domestication (Stiner et al 2022).…”

Section: Göbekli Tepe and Wf16 As Nodes Within A Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Steps towards farming in Southwest Asia involved the exploitation of wild cereals by Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers (Weiss et al 2004;Snir et al 2015), their cultivation during the tenth to ninth millennium BC by Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) communities in the Middle Euphrates and Southern Levant (e.g. Wilcox & Stordeur 2012;Colledge et al 2018;Weide et al 2022) and the exploitation of legumes, fruits and nuts in eastern regions-today's Iran and Iraq (Asouti & Fuller 2013). The first steps towards the domestication of goats are known from the Zagros Mountains in the ninth millennium BC (Zeder & Hesse 2000), but, as with cereals and legumes, there were likely multiple loci and different pathways towards such domestication (Stiner et al 2022).…”

Section: Göbekli Tepe and Wf16 As Nodes Within A Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The flow of ideas: shared symbolism during the Neolithic emergence in Southwest Asia: WF16 and Göbekli Tepe

2023

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During the Late Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic, societies across the Levant transformed their social, cultural and economic organisation, with new forms of food production, architecture and material culture. But to what extent were regional developments connected and how, in particular, did ideas and objects flow between the most southern and northern reaches of Southwest Asia? Finds from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of WF16 in southern Jordan resonate with those from Göbekli Tepe and other sites hundreds of kilometres to the north. Emphasising shared symbolism and ideology, the authors explore how connections may have arisen and how they were maintained, revealing expansive social networks spanning Southwest Asia that underpinned the emergence of farming.

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Section: Göbekli Tepe and Wf16 As Nodes Within A Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Göbekli Tepe and Wf16 As Nodes Within A Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The flow of ideas: shared symbolism during the Neolithic emergence in Southwest Asia: WF16 and Göbekli Tepe

2023

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Selection for domestication favored taxa characterized by fast growth and tolerance of high intraspecific density

de Casas,

Martín‐Brull,

Milla

et al. 2024

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementTo understand why certain plants have been domesticated into crops, we need to recognize that the environmental conditions plants experience in wild populations are totally different from those of agricultural fields. In this study, we investigated whether the characteristics that promote growth and survival in these different environments may have influenced domestication. Our results revealed that ancestral crops were selected because they developed better than other plants in dense single‐species stands, with selection for increased yield likely occurring after domestication. These insights shed light on the origins of agriculture and offer valuable guidance for future crop breeding efforts.Summary In spite of a large history of research, it is still unclear which functional traits may have mediated plant domestication. Solving this problem requires consideration of the ecological and demographic disparities between natural plant populations and cultivated fields. Since population density tends to be higher in the latter, we hypothesized that traits facilitating growth and survival in dense, monospecific populations might have been relevant for initial domestication. We investigated whether functional traits that respond to population density varied across three different domestication stages: undomesticated crop wild relatives, natural populations of crop progenitors, and landraces. To do this, we compared traits influencing competition (lodging; growth rate), resource acquisition (plant height; total aerial and root biomass) and yield (fruit number) in three annual legume crops—lentil, grasspea, and vetch—grown without resource limitation at three different densities. Our results showed clear differences among species, likely reflective of the distinct uses of the crops and their domestication pathways. Nevertheless, undomesticated relatives consistently differed from crop progenitors and landraces, producing smaller, slower‐growing plants that were more prostrate and allocated less biomass to roots. The effect of selection under domestication on these vegetative traits appeared to be largely negligible. Conversely, landraces produced more fruits. We conclude that early agriculturalists selected for domestication wild legumes that performed well in dense monocultures and were more effective in resource capture. Later domestication and breeding efforts likely had more significant effects on reproductive traits, such as fruit and seed production.

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Identification and exploitation of wild rye (Secale spp.) during the early Neolithic in the Middle Euphrates valley

Douché

Willcox²

2023

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Charred remains of wild rye from five sites in the Middle Euphrates region in Syria dated to the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene are examined. This period spans the transition from gathering to the beginnings of cultivation. Today wild rye cannot grow in the region because temperatures and aridity are too pronounced. Wild rye grains and wild two-grained einkorn are morphologically similar, which has led to difficulties in identification; in some cases rye may have been identified as two-grained einkorn or as Triticum/Secale. In this paper, with reference to modern specimens and re-examination of charred material from Dja’de el-Mughara, Jerf el-Ahmar and Mureybet, we examine the criteria for identification and revise the results for charred caryopses and wild spikelet bases. We then present these new results which show that at the early Neolithic sites of Jerf el-Ahmar, Mureybet, Dja’de el-Mughara and Tell ‘Abr 3 wild rye frequencies are much higher than einkorn but wild barley is the dominant cereal. This is followed by discussions of how and why wild rye may have been exploited during the early Neolithic and why rye disappears from Euphrates sites with the advent of mixed farming.

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A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia

Cited by 15 publications

References 67 publications

The flow of ideas: shared symbolism during the Neolithic emergence in Southwest Asia: WF16 and Göbekli Tepe

The flow of ideas: shared symbolism during the Neolithic emergence in Southwest Asia: WF16 and Göbekli Tepe

Selection for domestication favored taxa characterized by fast growth and tolerance of high intraspecific density

Identification and exploitation of wild rye (Secale spp.) during the early Neolithic in the Middle Euphrates valley

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